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A new commercial spacecraft built to haul cargo to the
International Space Station for NASA made its debut delivery to
the orbiting lab early Sunday (Sept. 29), capping a major test
flight for its builder Orbital Sciences Corp., which described
the space rendezvous as "epic."

The robotic
Cygnus spacecraft was captured by space station
astronauts using the outpost's robotic arm at 7 a.m. EDT (1100
GMT) as the two spacecraft sailed over the Indian Ocean. The
orbital arrival, which occurred one week later than planned due
to a software data glitch, appeared to go flawlessly.

Orbital officials initially aimed for Cygnus to arrive at the
space station on Sunday, Sept. 22, but a data format issue
between the spacecraft and orbiting lab forced the company to
abort that first rendezvous attempt. Troubleshooting efforts with
that glitch and the impending arrival of a new space station crew
aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which launched and docked on
Wednesday (Sept. 25), pushed Cygnus' arrival to today.

Despite the delay, the Cygnus spacecraft appeared to perform
flawlessly during today's arrival and capture at the space
station. The rendezvous is a major test flight success for
Orbital
Sciences, which began work on the Cygnus and Antares space
vehicles in 2008 and received $288 million from NASA to jumpstart
the project.

"A tremendous amount of hard work has gone into this five-year
effort from our launch vehicle and spacecraft teams, and we are
all exceptionally proud of their accomplishments," Orbital CEO
David Thompson said in a statement.

Astronaut Cady Coleman in Mission Control radioed congratulatory
messages to the space station crew from NASA chief Charles Bolden
and Orbital Sciences officials after Cygnus' arrival. Those
messages, she said, called today's Cygnus rendezvous a "superb"
and "epic" event.

Sunday's test flight marked the last milestone for NASA's
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, and sets the
stage for Orbital's first official cargo delivery mission to the
space station. Orbital has a $1.9 billion deal with NASA to
provide eight cargo delivery flights using its Cygnus spacecraft
and
Antares rockets. The first of those deliveries could launch
in December, company officials have said.

Orbital's Cygnus spacecraft is a silver pressurized cylinder 17
feet (5 meters) long built for the company by Italy's Thales
Alenia Space. It is powered by an Orbital-built service module
containing two solar wings for power, as well as rocket
thrusters.

The spacecraft is designed to carry up to 4,409 pounds (2,000
kg), though this first test flight is packed with only 1,543
pounds (700 kilograms) of supplies and gear, Orbital officials
have said. Cygnus spacecraft are designed to burn up in Earth's
atmosphere at the end of their missions.

"Today, with the successful berthing of the Orbital Sciences
Cygnus cargo module to the ISS, we have expanded America's
capability for reliably transporting cargo to low-Earth orbit,"
NASA chief Charles Bolden said in a statement. "It is an historic
milestone as this second commercial partner's demonstration
mission reaches the ISS, and I congratulate Orbital Sciences and
the NASA team that worked alongside them to make it happen."

With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011, the
space agency is depending on companies like Orbital Sciences to
keep the International Space Station stocked with supplies.
Orbital Sciences is one of two commercial spaceflight companies
with billion-dollar contracts for cargo delivery.

The other firm is SpaceX of Hawthorne,
Calif., which has a $1.9 billion contract for 12 supply missions
using its Dragon space capsules and Falcon 9 rockets. SpaceX has
flown two of those delivery missions already, and is expected to
test fly an upgraded version of its Falcon 9 rocket later today
in a launch from California. Unlike Cygnus, SpaceX's Dragon
capsules are equipped with a heat shield and can return science
experiments and gear to Earth from the station.

Orbital Sciences named the first Cygnus
Spaceship G. David Low after a former NASA astronaut who
oversaw Orbital's bids for NASA contracts, but died of cancer in
2008.

On Twitter, Orbital officials thanked the astronauts who captured
Cygnus, and had a special note for Low: "... and to our great
friend and colleague G. David Low...this one's for you," they
wrote.

"We're very happy to have G. David Low onboard with us, and
thanks to the whole team," Nyberg said.

The Cygnus spacecraft will stay linked to the space station for
about 30 days, after which it will be detached and set free in
mid-October to be intentionally destroyed in Earth's atmosphere.
The disposable nature of Cygnus is similar to that the unmanned
Russian, European and Japanese cargo ships that also service the
International Space Station.

Astronauts on the space station are expected to open the hatches
between the outpost and Cygnus early Monday (Sept. 30). That
milestone will also be webcast live online, NASA officials said.
SPACE.com is providing complete
coverage of Orbital's first Cygnus test flight to the
International Space Station.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 10:37
a.m. EDT (1437 GMT) to include new comments from NASA and Orbital
Sciences.